We went from having no rain for almost a month, to a tropical downpour today. When I went for my daily run, it was cloudy and calm. About halfway through, the sky opened up. It got to the point where I couldn't get any wetter. 

We are facing a big storm later this weekend. The weather people like to hype it up. These things often turn out to be nothing. 

If you make enough doomsday forecasts, it eventually happens.

I was never a fan of hot air balloons. I think they are a bunch of nonsense. They try to create a romanticized view of life, but end up being reckless when they crash.

Last week, a balloon went down in Grafton, Mass. Nobody was hurt, but several cars in a parking lot were damaged. What is the remedy for the car owners? Do they need to just suck it up? 

I stopped believing in hot air balloons after I saw the "Wizard of Oz" when I was a kid.

I believe that the US Postal Service still provides a vital service to citizens and businesses. They will lose an estimated $5 billion this year, in spite of some reforms.

The use of the Internet has devastated the Postal Service. I pay almost all of my bills on-line. That happens all across America.

I always choose them if I need to ship something, but they are struggling against UPS and FEDEX.

They need to do a better job with local mail. It takes too long. A friend mailed me a letter a week ago and I sill have not received it. Where is it? It only needed to travel across another town, with a total journey of about 18 miles.

It fell into some Black Hole along the way.

I have not been involved with pets for over 35 years. Things were so different back then. The three dogs my family had never went to the veterinarian unless it was something really major. They ate food out of the can and chewed on bones.

It's crazy now with the cost of pet health. I got a spam email tonight about pet insurance. It's a real issue for owners.

It costs so much to own a pet now. It got so out of hand over the years. 

The book I'm currently reading has two errors in it. One involves a misplaced comma in a long quote which makes it sound confusing. The other refers to Middlesex as a town in Massachusetts. It's a county. 

I wonder how these got by the editors. I'm seeing more errors in the newspapers I read daily. There is even poor grammar. 

It doesn't surprise me to see these. Writing skills are no longer emphasized. People don't write in complete sentences. Social media doesn't help. 

I'm very surprised to see that leaves have not turned color yet. October is five days away and everything is still green. We have not had a lot of cool nights.

That could change soon, but will it? Who knows what the weather will be for autumn. We are only in the first week. 

There is so much empty rhetoric during this presidential campaign and we still have a year to go. Politicians look to say what the people want to hear. 

It's easy to pander to veterans. They are treated so poorly by the VA. There are so many horror stories of people dying while waiting to get appointments.

Apparently, everything will be better for veterans after the 2016 election.Try telling that to the 22 veterans who commit suicide every day. It's an epidemic, but the wheels turn so slowly to improve things. 

The local evening news is filled with stories that have nothing to do with what is really going on in the world. I often wonder why I still watch it.

They hit a new low yesterday when they showed a video which had gone viral. It featured a rat dragging a slice of pizza down the stairs of a New York subway station. It had over one million views on the Internet. The newscasters thought it was so cute.

There is nothing worse than rats in a subway station or any place. They only breed disease and make the quality of life worse.

The station should be embarrassed for devoting time to this nonsense, but they all do it because they can't do anything better. 

You can always count on people to act foolish at sporting events when the fan camera shows them on the Jumbotron. People start waving and mugging for their moment of fame. Some arenas and stadiums have a kiss camera which is even more obnoxious.

The latest is the flexcam where people flex their bicep and show off.

We could live without this and the world would be better. 

I'm very skeptical about the claim from the 60 year old chemical engineer and MIT graduate who has not showered in 12 years.

He only uses a bacterial spray to keep himself clean. He said that soap impedes the sweat and oil-fighting bacteria that the body produces naturally.

I think this is a bunch of nonsense. Some soaps do a better job than others, but I think everyone should take a daily shower.

I wonder how he feels about doing laundry. 

We are down to the final hours of summer. The last several days have been hot and humid. I was at a UMass football game today and was hot in the stands.

I'll be at the five other home games this season. It will get progressively cooler until the last game in mid November. By then, I'll be wearing a winter coat, hat and gloves.

Today's warm weather will only be a memory. 

Newspapers are slowly becoming extinct. The paper version is being replaced by on-line content which younger people like.

I still buy two daily ones and purchase the e-paper version of another. They are pricing themselves out of business. 

The iconic New York Daily News is on life support after losing $30 million last year. Circulation has fallen 40% in the past year. Deep staff cuts have been made. 

Radical moves will be made according to reports, including publishing a paper edition only on Sunday and staying with a digital edition for the rest of the week.

No company can continue to lose money like this and keep their doors open. 

Public works projects never get built at their estimated cost. New York and New Jersey have agreed to contribute $10 billion towards the construction of a new train tunnel under the Hudson River to connect the two states. The federal government would contribute the other $10 billion. 

The 105 year old tunnel is in desperate need of replacement. It has been talked about for years while nothing happened.

There is no way on earth that the tunnel will be built for a cost of $20. If that's the price in 2015, we can only speculate what the bids will be if they ever get solicited. 

It's moments before the second Republican Presidential candidate debate. The lower four just finished and the top eleven, lead by Donald Trump, will do their thing.

After tonight, it will be over for some. There are too many candidates in the race. Many are having a hard time raising money. 

It's only a matter of time before some drop out. 

I have not eaten a piece of chocolate since December 2008. I don't miss it or think about it. Sweets have been eliminated from my diet.

I saw a picture of a fruit basket on Facebook which included chocolate covered strawberries. This would be the last thing I would ever eat. Chocolate doesn't go with fruit as far as I'm concerned. 

California has certainly had its share of devastating wildfires over the years. The current crisis is hard to watch. So many homes are being destroyed. Communities evaporate before your eyes.

I had the good fortune of taking seven trips to California between 1993 and 1999,  spending about 70 days there. I saw a lot of the state by driving around. There is so much great scenery.

There was always the evidence of damaging fires no matter where I went. Yosemite National Park and Malibu had some big-time scorched earth. 

The state is so resilient and comes back every time.

It's hard to believe I wore long sleeves for the first time since spring while running today.

With only 10 days left to summer, cooler weather is upon us. There will certainly be warm days and so-called Indian Summer, but the warmest days are behind us.

The process to select court judges varies by states. There is no consistency across the country. Many states have a judicial screening committee  which forwards their recommendations to the governor. Other states have elections that are no different than any other political office.

No matter how you look at it, judges are selected through a political process. I'm not sure which way is better, although I tend to support judicial screening committees. 

Days of Infamy eventually fade into history. We are seeing that with December 7, 1941. It gets less media coverage as time passes, but will be bigger next year on the 75th anniversary.

The same thing has happened to the assassination of President Kennedy. A person would need to be at least 56 to have any type of memory of the event. The 50th anniversary got huge coverage, but it faded last year.

September 11th is still raw to most Americans, but anyone under 18 would have no recollection of this event. As years pass, the number of people who were around will continue to dwindle.

That is the way it is with any historical event. 

What role should government play in regulating our health? New York City is taking a big step in having national food chains disclose their foods with sodium levels more than the recommended daily allowance of 2,300 mg.

After seeing a list of the offending items, I was shocked to see their sodium levels. Some had over 4,000 mg. Fortunately, I don't ever eat stuff like that, but many people do.

We have a severe public health issue when it comes to trans fats and sodium. NYC took a dramatic step to address trans fats, in spite of being accused of overreaching.

I don't think there is anything wrong with informing the public over the nutritional value of certain foods. The companies won't do it on their own. It's up to government to take the step.  

The mayor of Boston signed a bill today outlawing smokeless tobacco at any athletic fields or arenas in the city. This includes Fenway park where baseball players will test the new law.

MLB has a major problem with those who chew the stuff. It's a dirty habit that has no role in the game.

Enforcement of this law will be a big challenge, especially at Fenway. Most players will just pay the $250 fine and keep on chewing, in spite of its role in causing cancer. 

Libraries are losing more books as they try to reinvent themselves. My local one has more PC's and videos. There are definitely fewer books on the shelves.

Colleges face the same challenges. The University of Maryland will be putting all of their required textbooks on-line at no cost to students. This will save them thousands of dollars. 

At what point will textbooks disappear from campuses? It's still a large and lucrative industry, with changes in editions that force students into buying the latest one.

I'm not the biggest fan of e-reading. It takes me longer to read the Boston Globe than a print copy.

I still prefer books.

Massachusetts, Delaware and New Jersey are the only states that prohibit the retail sale of fireworks. There are plenty of stores on the New Hampshire border ready to sell their wares.

A group of citizens is trying to get a ballot initiative for 2016 that would finally allow the sale of fireworks in the Bay State. 

Supporters of the bill cite the loss of tax revenue and convenience for those who want to purchase them.

I am against the sale of any type of fireworks. If people want them, they can go to New Hampshire.

People tend to be careless with their use and have little regard for those who are forced to listen to their noise. 

I will never be rich enough to walk past pennies on the street. I've picked them up my entire life and will continue. Quarters, dimes and nickels are even better.

During my run today, I found a ten dollar bill. It certainly stood out among the sand and other bits of road trash.

I wonder how it got there. 

There was another freak accident yesterday in New York City with falling tree limbs. Several people were hurt in Bryant Park when a large limb suddenly snapped.

This is not the first time this has happened. A couple of years ago, a person was killed in Central Park when a limb came crashing down.

There are so many trees that are potential hazards. They are all around us. I see one daily when I run. It's only a matter of time before half of this tree comes down.  

The use of personal drone aircraft needs to have more regulations. It's only a matter of time before there is a tragedy or someone uses one as a weapon.

There was a close call last night at the US Tennis Open in Queens, NY. A hobbyist had his drone fly into the stadium during a match. It crashed into the stands, but didn't hurt anyone. He was arrested, but questions remain.

There are too many cases of reckless use of these things.

Many communities across America draw their drinking water from sources that were heavily polluted at one time. We are lead to believe that it's a safe thing to do. We don't always know the source of the water we drink.

A local Boston brewery made a big announcement of their plans to brew a beer made with water drawn from the Charles River. It's hard to imagine that this would ever happen considering it's past history of extreme pollution.

The only time it seems to matter is when you know the source. The company is banking on people embracing the idea of drinking beer made from the Charles River. 

Parents seem to have their kids enrolled in all sorts of activities at an early age. How old should a child be before they participate in sports?

I recently saw a picture on Facebook of a six year old getting ready for a football clinic. They had all the padding on.

With all of the concern over concussions, maybe they should wait another year or two. I find it hard to believe that kids at that age make their own decisions on which sports to pursue.

In many cases, the parents live through their children. You can see it at a practice or game.  

Once you get into September, summer is on a very short leash. The next few days will be hot and humid during daylight hours, but cooler at night.

Summer came and went. Autumn is on the doorstep.

Can winter be that far away?